


New Possibilities

by jacksparrow589



Series: Unfurling Possibilities [3]
Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Have I mentioned fluff yet?, Pointless fluff, Shirbert, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-13 19:07:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21002678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacksparrow589/pseuds/jacksparrow589
Summary: Taking Diana's advice, Anne goes to talk with Gilbert about the events of Friday and what that means for their future. Warm and fuzzy feelings ensue.





	New Possibilities

Lying was wrong, and Anne felt terrible, but she wasn't sure the truth was any better. At least the only thing she'd lied to Marilla about was the intended topic of conversation for her visit to Gilbert. She'd said it was about homework, and she'd looked grave enough that Marilla had let her go (not before noting, however, that Anne wasn't carrying any books, but she kept that to herself). Now, Anne was trudging through the snow feeling as though she was going to her death.

She had plenty of reason to hope. Diana had been right; Gilbert was sensible, and she had no reason to doubt his feelings. Still, that they hadn't talked about this meant that there was room for talking to fail, and Anne wasn't sure she could bear it if that happened.

At times, she only barely trudged along, only to surge forward at the thought of putting her racing mind to rest once and for all. The moments they'd shared couldn't mean nothing—that wasn't the sort of person Gilbert was.

All too soon, she was at the door to the house. Anne took one steadying breath, and then another, and then knocked.

“Anne!” Mary gave her a hug. “What a surprise! Is everything alright? You look troubled.”

“Oh! Y-yes, everything's fine; I just... I'm having some trouble with an assignment and... wanted to... ask Gilbert for some help,” she finished quietly.

Mary had listened intently, but by the time Anne finished, her lips were curled into a knowing grin. “Bash,” she called quietly. Her husband appeared with Delphine in his arms, and Anne couldn't hide her own smile. “Where is Gilbert?”

Bash tilted his head to the side. “Working on that fence over there. A few posts split in the cold recently.” He looked at Anne. “What do you need, Anne?”

“H-homework,” Anne stammered, before clarifying, “I have a question about an assignment.”

Bash gave a bit of a chuckle. “I'm sure he'll be happy to help you. Go on.”

* * *

Should she interrupt him? She wouldn't want him to drop anything. And how important was this, really?

“If you're going to stand there and stare,” Gilbert told her as he hauled a beam toward the post, “you could at least help.”

“Sorry.” Anne picked up the other end of the beam, surprised that Gilbert set it down rather than setting it on the post when they got to the area of the fence he was mending.

Gilbert finally turned to look at her. “I should be the one apologizing; I didn't realize it was you. I just knew somebody was there.”

“It's alright,” Anne told him hurriedly.

“The look on your face says otherwise.” Gilbert drew close without touching her, and waited for Anne to speak.

Anne sighed. “I shouldn't have come. I'm sorry; it's just... Diana took me skating the other day and sh—some of the other girls there were talking about courting, and I... I didn't know... I don't know... after Friday...” she trailed off, then tried again, feeling worse when the new words came out. “Everything is happening so fast, and I don't know what to do.” She looked down, not wanting to meet Gilbert's eyes now that he'd seen her for the inexperienced coward she was.

She looked up automatically when Gilbert put his hands on her shoulders. “Anne, this is new to both of us. And as much as it sounds like nobody explained the rules to you, you'd better believe boys don't really get the rules explained to them, either. Not as early, anyway.” Anne knew he was thinking about the time lost with his late father, and reached up and covered one of his hands with hers. “I'll admit I hadn't given it too much thought, but I think my assumption was that that was the start of a courtship. That's certainly what I want, anyway. But if you don't—”

“I do. Very much,” Anne said very quickly. “At least, I want to spend time with you.”

“So why do you look so unhappy?” Gilbert wanted to know.

With a shuddering breath, Anne admitted, “Part of it is that this is so new... but so much of it is the expectations of the people around us, and what we want for ourselves. You have your dreams, and I have mine. Perhaps I'm being naive, but I don't see any way our dreams stand in opposition to each other if we just trust each other, but... I'm worried about what people will think. What they'll say,” she finished quietly.

Gilbert didn't say anything.

“It's one thing for people to talk about me. That's been my life—odd, flighty, _wrong_ Anne. It's another thing when it's someone I care about. Someone I love.” Anne looked up into Gilbert's eyes and was only mildly surprised when his reaction to her words was to wrap her in a hug.

"You can't protect me from every unkind word or uncharitable thought, Anne. There will always be people who don't understand, and every time, we'll prove them wrong together.” He backed away and took her hands, looking into her eyes. “You once said to follow my passions, and I intend to. That includes you. I'm not saying I want you to agree to marry me tomorrow, but someday, when we're ready, I hope you will.” Anne's heart leaped straight into her throat. “For now, though, I think we can take it one day at a time.”

All Anne could do was nod. It was one thing to read about a man laying his soul bare in a book. It was quite another to experience it for herself.

Gilbert continued, steering them back into much safer territory, “It's not as though I haven't been bothered by what people say about you, but there's only so much you can do to shut them up. I tried that at one point. It went... well, surprisingly well, actually, but I wouldn't bet on it going my way again."

Anne's eyes were as wide as saucers. "What aren't you telling me?"

Gilbert sighed. "Shortly after my father died... Billy was making some rude remarks about you being the best in class."

Anne looked skeptical. "He put it that way?"

"You know he didn't. Anyway, I... wasn't in a place to handle it well. I threw a punch—well, two—and told him he'd regret ever hassling you again." Gilbert took a breath. "I'm more proud of it having worked than I'd like, but I'd much rather just ignore talk like that."

Anne looked rather shocked, a bit impressed, and mostly horrified. "He came in the next day with a mark. Didn't say how he got it, but he wasn't nearly as obviously unpleasant to me after that. Even when you were gone, the worst he did was take your letter—"

"You kept that letter?" Gilbert seemed surprised.

"Of course. You misspelled 'indefinitely' and I was going to write you back to correct you."

Gilbert gave her a lopsided but triumphant smile. "I thought so."

Anne was taken aback, but not unhappy. "Anyway, Cole got the letter back for me, and I think Billy realized someone still had my back." She looked at the ground. "I just didn't realize you did then, too."

"Well, now you do." Gilbert shifted his attention to lifting the beam they'd nearly forgotten about into place, and Anne assisted when it wobbled.

"I think everyone does after Friday," Anne murmured. "I'm certain some of our school gossips are hard at work even now." They finished placing the beam, and Anne leaned against a nearby post. "So the question remains: Are we courting publicly? The matter of privately seems rather firmly settled on 'yes'," she clarified.

Gilbert removed a glove and took her hand. "Do you want to be? I don't mind either way, but this is as much your choice as it is mine."

_"We will be equals and partners, not just husband and wife."_

Anne's stomach did another tiny flip, and her heart seemed just a little fuller as she remembered what she'd told Matthew all those months ago. After a moment's thought, she replied, "I think for now, I'd rather wait. This is all so new and I'm not sure I'm ready to face the inevitable swarm, even with you by my side."

"Fair enough. Just let me walk you to and from school sometimes?"

"Of course!" Anne laughed, before remembering... "I really should say something to Marilla and Matthew. It's one thing for our classmates not to know, but my parents..." she grimaced. "I'm sure it won't be as bad as I think it will be. Marilla has hinted several times already that she thinks you'll make a fine husband for someone someday, and she's attempted to gauge my interest more than once. Your name does carry a certain weight with her."

Gilbert tugged her hand and they started walking back toward the house. "I have to admit, the thought of talking with Marilla about this is daunting for me, too.”

Anne leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. “I hear that's supposed to bestow courage, though I'm not entirely sure how.”

Stopping them for a moment, Gilbert bent just a little to give Anne a proper, chaste kiss. “Do you understand now?”

Anne swallowed and nodded.

Gilbert looked toward the house, squinting just a little. “I would say we should tell Bash and Mary first, but I think they might already know.” He turned to Anne, whose cheeks were pink. “They've been waiting and hinting for months; I think we're fine.”

“Some day, Gilbert Blythe, we are going to have to figure out how everyone saw this coming except me.” Anne swung their joined hands playfully.

“Anne Shirley Cuthbert, there are many conversations I look forward to having with you, including that one.” Gilbert took her hand and pressed it to his lips for the briefest moment. “Let's face this together.”

Anne squeezed his hand with a broad, joyful grin.

“Together,” she agreed.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, there you go: a Green Gables DTR talk.  
I tried to balance “they're just teens” with knowing that they're absolutely going to end up together and also with the expectations of the time—marry young, support your husband, have babies. I don't think I was particularly successful, but eh, I had fun. You could mentally bump their ages by a year or two if this sort of conversation between two mid-teens kids makes you uncomfortable--it's not super important to the story.  
I'm not saying the series is done at this point, but I think this little arc of it is done. Future fics may reference this, though, so I want to be able to put them in this collection.


End file.
